Let He Who Is Without Sin Send The First Jolt Of 50,000 Volts Through The Condemned Criminal

An eye for an eye? Yes I know it says that in the old testament - but what about the ridiculous number of examples of Jesus preaching and showing forgiveness and mercy? It also states very clearly in the ten commandments that thou shall not kill*.

How often do you hear of preachers of all christian denominations speaking of God's mercy, how he will forgive all of us sinners (especially if your catholic) if we repent? And yet at the same time you hear people saying - they deserve to die for what they did.

There is also the hypocrisy (yes, there is that word again for regular readers) of using God's Will as an argument against euthanasia/abortion/contraception etc etc but going ahead and executing someone, or does God sign and date the execution order?

*leave pacifists alone for now, they wont fight back and there are plenty of arguments around self defense that would cloud the issue I'm trying to discuss.

Self Righteous Self Delusion

Jesus had a lot to say about hypocrites in religion. Piety and strict adherence to religious rules and regulations, whilst at the same time completely ignoring the point - because to pay attention would be to loose wealth and status.

We are deluding ourselves into believing we have reserved a place in heaven through an intense fight against abortion; while we close our eyes to evils we would rather not face up to.

I wonder what Jesus would say today; about christian groups protesting with so much zeal against abortion, or gay marriage, or condom use in Africa, or women priests - when millions upon millions of people are dying needlessly of extreme poverty every day and yet more live in terrible poverty.

Pareto's idea of twenty percent of people having eighty percent of the world's wealth still rings true today - if not worse. The gap between rich and poor is growing wider in many parts of the world. We pay little more than lip service to dealing with child labour and sweat shops, but will ferociously fight over whether homosexual civil partnerships should be called marriages or not.

What do you think it is more important to campaign against?

• the sale of military weapons where they are likely to be used to devastating effect
• the free distribution of condoms where they are likely to be used in sinful* sexual acts

*I am not debating if condom use is sinful in this post - you can refer to an early posting for that. However, assuming for a minute that using a condom is sinful; I seriously doubt it is as sinful as blowing someone's brains out with a rifle, or letting someone starve to death for no reason.

Splitting the Condom

Forget about sex before marriage for a minute - if your a teenage male, I mean forget the arguments surrounding sex before marriage. What is wrong with contraception?

It is argued that the use of a condom puts an artificial barrier in front of the possibility of creating life, which goes against the will of God. Only God should decide if a baby is to be created. Sex should be open to the possibility of conception. Other artificial contraceptives - caps and the pill are also forbidden.

The rhythm method is promoted as a "God acceptable" method of contraception; totally natural with no artificial barriers. However, at the same time it is promoted as being more effective than a condom at preventing pregnancy.

Are you trying to tell me that:

1. keeping track of your menstrual cycle on a calendar
2. working and marking out the optimum times for you to become pregnant
3. which coincide with the times you have your highest sex drive
4. then denying yourself sex at these times
5. thus reducing your chances of conceiving to 3%

Is somehow NOT artificial?

So if Christianity doesn't have a problem with contraception; just contraception that doesn't require forward planning - is this attitude designed to combat casual sex rather than low fertility rates?

If your argument is against casual sex then say so and stop encouraging unsafe sex and the spread of HIV.

Im pretty sure that Jesus would have had more to say about the needles suffering caused by the spread of a deadly incurable disease, than he would about couples avoiding pregnancy with rubber.

Finally, a quote from Mark Steel on God's mystified reaction to celibacy. Its only partly related, but it is a good one.

"No! Don't stop doing that, that's what we gave you those bits for!" - Mark Steel

Camels Eyes Needles

Don't go making a huge needle and think you have found a loop hole. And no, a genetically modified "rich man's salvation" Camel, will not work either.

"It is easier for a Camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven"

Contrary to overly optimistic rich Christian's belief, Jesus was not referring to any narrow gateways or alleyways that Camel's found mildly tricky to negotiate. Chances are he was being emphatic, and he didn't need shameless use of italics to do it.

The point is that to be rich, you have had to make a lot of money and kept a lot of money. And though making it doesn't have to involve doing anything underhand, keeping it does mean that a lot of people are going without.

Yes, let he who is with sin cast a stone anyway - I'm not exactly poor. I'm on an average wage for the UK, but the UK is (baring credit crunch incidents) still one of the richest countries in the world. Trying to claim your not really rich with reference to "Bill Gates" or "The Queen" is only kidding yourself.

For further reading; see the parable of the rich man swaggering in with a bag on gold for the poor box vs homeless lady with her last penny.